Gauteng is to get about 10 new mixed housing developments in the current financial year, provincial housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane said on Friday.
They will be in Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Mogale City and Johannesburg, she told the Gauteng legislature in her 2007/08 budget speech.
The developments will be similar to Cosmo City, north of Johannesburg, which caters for people across class, social and racial lines.
In Tshwane, Olievenhoutbosch extension 36, Thorntree View and Nelmapius have been earmarked for new housing projects.
In Johannesburg, a major mixed housing development is being planned at Doornkop, Mokonyane said. It will comprise about 25 000 different units for various income groups — from subsidised housing for the poor to bonded middle-class homes.
In Mogale City, Kagiso/Azzadville, Middelvlei/Droogeheuwel and Westonaria South have been identified for similar projects.
Mokonyane said her department will speed up plans to acquire prime land closer to urban centres for housing developments.
”We will explore various options to secure government-owned land, including expropriation,” she said. ”Our quest to deracialise and integrate people on well-located land cannot be allowed to be undermined by processes of land acquisition.”
A drive to have no informal settlements in the province by 2014 will see 10 such settlements eradicated in this financial year, Mokonyane said. — Sapa